The majority of immigrants living in Canada want to see stricter policies on international students and that sentiment is felt most strongly among South Asian immigrants, according to a recent poll.
A Leger poll commissioned by OMNI revealed that 67% of immigrants who have been living in Canada for over six years want to see a crackdown on policy regarding international student programs. Among South Asian immigrants that figure increases to 77%.
Certain policy changes have been made in recent months after Immigration Minister Marc Miller committed to reducing the number of temporary residents over the next three years to 5% of the population, down from 6.2% in 2023, which would include international students.
The Liberal government may even surpass its goal announced in January to lower the international student cap, reducing new study permits by 35%.
According to an education recruitment company, the government is on track to reduce the number of international students by 48% from 436,678 study permits in 2023 to potentially 229,000 this year.
The poll also found that eight in 10 immigrants think immigration will be a key issue in the next federal election and more than half confirmed that the immigration policies presented by each party will influence the way they vote.
“We don’t do everything by poll, it’s nice to know that the measure is popular. I think it’s even more important to know that these measures actually work. Tentatively we see that these measures are working, it makes for a more manageable international student visa program,” Miller told OMNI News in response to the poll.
However, one in four respondents said that the federal government’s newly proposed rules are already enough to stop abuses within the International Student Program.
This sentiment was shared highest among younger immigrants who identified as being an ethnic minority.
Canada’s international student program has been widely exploited in recent years by those looking to use it as an avenue to stay in the country permanently.
Nearly 13,000 international students applied for asylum in Canada while studying abroad in the first eight months of 2024.
From Jan. 1- Aug. 31, 12,915 asylum claims were made by those on international study permits or study permit extensions, making up 10.8% of the 119,835 refugee claims in the same period.
In August alone, 1,785 international students applied for refugee status.
This marks a marked surge in the number of international students applying for asylum in Canada. In the entirety of 2022, only 4,880 international students applied for asylum, an increase of 2.65 times in just the first eight months of 2024. Back in 2018, only 1,835 international students applied for asylum the entire year.
Of the 278,250 international study permits granted in Canada for the first three fiscal quarters, the plurality of international students have come from India, reaching 107,385.
Other prominent countries include Nigeria at 15.685, China at 30,240, and the Philippines at 13,905.
Miller admitted in a Bloomberg interview in July that foreigners have been using the international student visa program as a “cheap way” to obtain permanent residency and citizenship in Canada.
“That should never be the promise,” said Miller. “People should be coming here to educate themselves and perhaps go home and bring those skills back to their country.”
Canada’s student visa system came under investigation by the Canada Border Service Agency last year following a string of abuses with the program, with the agency conducting a probe into 300 students.
The probe revealed that at least 10 people attained student visas using fake acceptance letters from colleges and universities, some of whom are also involved in gangs and crime-related activity.
A separate probe conducted by Ottawa found 2,000 incredulous student visas and discovered that approximately 1,485 applicants had issued fake letters of admission into colleges and universities.
The bulk of the fraudulent applicants involved came from India, China and Vietnam.